"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh

Friday, June 30, 2017

From the old Jubilee radio program - live music broadcasts which primarily targeted African-American troops during WWII - here's Elmer Fain and his orchestra performing "Pick a Rib". There's very little information on Fain available on the internet. He was apparently a saxophone player and a sometime musicians union official, but beyond that, I haven't been able to find very much.

I do not, by any means, wish to diminish the very real dangers posed by leftist fanaticism; the stalking and shooting of Republicans on a baseball field in the DC area underscores the fact that these people have the potential to be a genuine threat. But I have to say, I am not greatly impressed by the martial prowess of the Haymakers.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

From the first reading at mass today (Jeremiah 20: 10-13), a timely passage:

I hear many whispering,
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him! Let’s denounce him!”

All my friends are waiting for me to slip, saying,
“Perhaps he will be deceived;
then we will prevail over him
and take our revenge on him.”
But the Lord is with me like a mighty warrior;
so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.

They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced;
their dishonor will never be forgotten.
Lord Almighty, you who examine the righteous
and probe the heart and mind,

let me see your vengeance on them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
Sing to the Lord!
Give praise to the Lord!

Saturday, June 24, 2017

No, no, not for the parliament or senate or tribal council, whatever it is they have over there. It's time for the Annual Frightbat Election. Tim Blair looks over the field (or perhaps "herd" is the mot juste).

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Before today, I never knew there was such a thing as a "McCain Institute". Ostensibly, it's an organization named after Grumpy John McCain, and is "dedicated to advancing human rights, dignity, democracy and freedom.” In other words, a gaudy psychological pyramid celebrating this odious little man's vanity and inexplicably enormous self-esteem. And, just perhaps, it is also a source of sleazy international payola:

Critics worry that the institute’s donors and McCain’s personal leadership in the organization’s exclusive “Sedona Forum” bear an uncanny resemblance to the glitzy Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) that annually co-mingled special interests and powerful political players in alleged pay-to-play schemes.

The institute has accepted contributions of as much as $100,000 from billionaire liberal activist-funder George Soros and from Teneo, a for-profit company co-founded by Doug Band, former President Bill Clinton’s “bag man.” Teneo has long helped enrich Clinton through lucrative speaking and business deals.

George Soros! Of course! Hey, it takes dough to maintain your status as a "maverick", especially when, at bottom, you're just a moss-backed, deep state hack.

In a hidden room in a house near Argentina's capital, police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in the country's history, including a bust relief of Adolf Hitler, magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas and even a macabre medical device used to measure head size.

Some 75 objects were found in a collector's home in Beccar, a suburb north of Buenos Aires, and authorities say they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during World War II.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

I don't know how this bit of historical trivia escaped my notice, but long-time friend and commenter Adrian from Australia recently sent me an email in which he points out that Che Guevara and I - the author of the fictional Che diaries - share the same birthday (June 14).

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Too many self-proclaimed feminists in the United States have failed to express outrage at the oppression of women that is sanctioned under Sharia law. Instead, they have embraced an ardent defender of Sharia law, Linda Sarsour, who was chosen to serve as a national co-chair of the Women’s March on Washington last January protesting President Trump. She tweeted several years ago that “shariah law is reasonable and once u read into the details it makes a lot of sense. People just know the basics.” As someone wisely asked rhetorically, in reminding Sarsour of her Sharia tweet the day after the Women’s March on Washington, “basics like mutilating people...beating wives... killing apostates...killing rape victims...did i miss anything?”

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Meh. I'm not totally convinced. I guess they make a pretty good choice for home defense, given the reasons provided. But I prefer my Vepr shotgun ('cuz I'm one of those guys who doesn't mind having to replace his drywall and a couple of windows).

Meanwhile, here in Occupied Northern Virginia, Mrs. Paco and I cast our vote in the gubernatorial primary. Ed Gillespie, a moss-backed Republican moderate, is favored to win, but we went with Corey A. Stewart (after wading through the ballot instructions printed in Spanish, Korean, and a couple of other languages that might have been Hindi or Klingon, for all I know).

The marvelously named Cressida Dick thinks the diversity of victims of the most recent terrorist attacks in London shows how "strong" their society is.

“It’s a place where the vast majority of time it’s incredibly integrated and that diversity gives us strength.”

Diversity without a significant level of assimilation - and something to assimilate to - does not lead to strength, but to the kind of fractious, violent and increasingly fearful society that much of the urban sectors of the UK are now experiencing.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

All the focus was on former FBI director James Comey today, and his testimony in the Senate. The most interesting things, to me, to come out of the testimony were (1) the fact that Trump was never personally under investigation, (2) Comey leaked information to the media, himself, and (3) former AG Loretta Lynch put pressure on him to recast the criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton as a mere "matter" being looked into.

By and large, Comey tried to come across as a guy who was desperate to save his country - which he has pretty clearly confused with his own gluteus maximus (Daniel Greenfield has provided a good profile). We are well rid of this shifty, cut-rate Hamlet.

ISIS jihadists attack a Catholic church in the Philippines, and a Muslim (possibly not ISIS, but does it really matter any more?) attacks a priest at a wedding ceremony in Spain (Update: And let's not overlook Australia - H/T to friend and commenter Bruce, in the comments).

Number One Son presented us with another grandchild on Friday. His name is Calintz. Up to now, there was only one thing in the universe named Calintz: a character in a video game. Now there are two things with that name (Hey, don't blame me; I offered him money to give the kid another name, to no avail).

Mother and son are doing well, and Maggie is excited to have a little brother. I can't honestly say that a proliferation of Pacos is necessarily a plus for the world, but I figure one more can't hurt. Here's a picture of the littlest Paco after they hosed him down (looking a bit like a sleeping Edward G. Robinson)...

"Three Jihadi knifemen are shot dead by police after killing six and hurting 30: Gang yell 'this is for Allah' after mowing down crowd on London Bridge and then going from bar to bar in stabbing frenzy".

Saturday, June 3, 2017

On Saturday, over 135 cities will join a coalition of 17 “national progressive groups,” Democrat and progressive members of Congress, a Watergate prosecutor, writers, celebrities, musicians and activists in a series of national rallies known as the “March for Truth.”